Which old God Game was your favourite? B&W, Pop, or Spore? And seriously, if you haven't seen my other upcoming games lists, you're missing out! Playlist here: th-cam.com/play/PLYVqUDxY6COh7bkuJoBb1koNRX7mAX2yp.html
I have only played Black and White back in the day and I loved it. I'm immensely disappointed that we do not have a Black and White 3 or a Black and White 4. the god game genre is severely underrepresented.
@@grasshopper1153 Yeah, I read there were ideas all the way up to B&W 7 where it would be modern day. I suspect the problem was Peter Molyneux, he's notorious for overpromising and mismanaging, and I think games from Bullfrog and Lionhead succeeded in spite of him, not because of him. Black & White 2 even shipped with an apology letter in a notepad document. Extra evident with ex-Bullfrog devs becoming Two Point Studios and succeeding with Two Point Hospital. Those devs are great, I have a feeling Molyneux kept driving things into the ground.
I hope we get some additional games inspired by Black and White. I had so much fun with those games and it honestly bothers me that there aren’t many games like it. I’ll forever remember the game whispering my name, making me think I was crazy 😂
yeah, why are all the old games better than the current junk that is put out? sure those games might have had weaker graphics, but the gameplay was so much better back in those days.
After playing some games in VR i concluded Black and White would be a perfect VR game if it come out now. Grabbing things as interaction, drawing the symbols to cast spells, an animal companion you can pet... Everything
I got stuck on the first island in every game I ever played of Black & White no matter how I played (the stone quest, specifically, and yes I did look up walkthroughs, the game was bugged) but these look interesting.
Yay, another mention of my game! Even if version 1.0 of Elysian Eclipse won't exceed Spore, which will very likely be the case, me and my team will keep expanding it with free updates, making it a little better every time! It has been a lot of fun working on this project so far. ^^
If it even gets halfway to Spore but stays in development people would love it. I don't think anyone expects an indie to surpass a multimillion dollar game on day 1. The Stardew Valley approach can be very popular where it's a pretty good game that just gets better over time so eventually everyone owns it lol
it is absolutely wild to me that we haven't gotten a game like Black & White. There's so much potential in the idea and with the today's technology you'd assume we'd at least have a bunch of failed attempts and maybe one that would be a spiritual successor. But to me even Fata Deum isn't picking it up, because to me what was the most Black & White about Black & White was the Creature. I'm left with playing the original games in loop forever I guess...
I never got the appeal of the Creature, it seemed like a random and unfitting element for me, but I agree on Fata Deum not capturing the magic of Black and White, which for me was about the sense of wonder, you would explore the island and everywhere you would find new fun stories with new fun stuff to do which never failed to surprise and entertain. What I'm seeing in Fata Deum is just an RTS dressing up as Black and White.
Well, the big studios are all into MMOs and mobile scam games because that's where the money is. And the indies don't have the funds/dev power to pull it off. Back then god games were just one of many genres that were explored and whoever made one didn't have much competition. More importantly, the audience was dedicated "real" gamers. Meanwhile gaming is mainstream, millions and millions of players of all kinds and that means also thousands and thousands of small and big studios trying their luck. They suffocate each other and if you try your hand on a niche genre you won't have big budgets. But you kind of need one for a modern Black&White, especially if the graphics should also be up to date. Let's be honest here, the games of this list all look like they are 10-20 years old.
What I miss in games is one that picks up the mechanic of Black and White's avatar's. With our current level of AI it would be much easier to have a game where in you raise and teach your own creature/thing to act on your behalf.
One of my yearly Christmas tradition is to binge these lists you make while adding games to my wishlist. Always looking forward to these every year, thanks for making these!
Microcivilization is my friend's game, he works on it by himself, he gave me beta to try and I lost instantly 13 hours to it. That good it is! Thanks Gamerzakh to include it!
black and white 2 (never played 1) was actually my favorite city builder. It was so simple, but your cities could look impressive. The impressiveniss score with the high ground bonus and diminishing returns was great. every city builder or colony sim nowadays is way too gritty ;v I don't care what "Adam" is good at or what his skills are
crazy how nearly 10+ years later and Spore still has such a huge effect on this genre. I know this has been said a million times but it is a tragedy that EA killed Maxis Studio...imagine what a Spore 2 on Unity 5 would be like? Legit a dream game and it's so sad we will never get Spore 2 unless someone pays EA a shit ton of money to take the IP away from them.
I don't think the IP is all that important, it's just making a proper successor would cost tens of millions at least. Don't have to buy the name though, War for the Overworld worked out without buying the Dungeon Keeper IP.
The main reason for people not liking tribal and furder phazes in spore was that they were very very unfinished. Of ourse a lot of folks would prefer funny animals parts of game either way but also Spore was striped of the chance to reach it's full potential due to very rushed dedlines. Thanks EA. I hope elysian eclipse will fix that. Crossing my fingers for the developers.
Thrive is criminally underrated, it easily has the most potential out of all the games in the list by far Plus, even though it will take a decade or more to be finished, by the time aware stage is complete it will already be the mother of all evolution games with the amount of possibilities
I backed Universim with the highest tier that was available almost a decade ago, and have been staying completely hands-off until launch. The footage I saw here looks exactly like what I'd hoped for
Yeah I just checked, the first time I mentioned Universim in a video was 2014. It's just about reaching 10 years of development, it looks a lot more than when I last played too.
It reminded me of a concept that’s popped up a few times in books I’ve read and I’d love to see actually made one day. Essentially a Competitive God Sim. Imagine this: you and many other people find lands to rule as gods and people who worship you, you act in their interest and mold them to your own interest sort of like Black and White. They advance and grow and depending on how you mold your chosen people is how they’ll react to the people of other Gods. You do not actively control people like an RTS but you can affect the world around them in accordance with your influence.
Why hasn't anyone just converted Black and White into VR as a mod project or something? God games were literally MADE for the VR platform- so much so, they even included a virtual representation for your hand in the games. Populus made the UI appear as if you were standing over a table looking down onto the world which is a cool idea for interacting with a world in VR.
Populous, Black and White and...Spore? One of these are not like the others ;D Definitely most interested in Fata Deum, looks like the successor to B&W that we never got!
Well 'God Game' doesn't exactly have a hard definition haha. I'd throw SimEarth into it as well. Generally games where you control living things from a higher form perspective. Pop and B&W you're actually a god in-game, Spore you basically act as a god but from a slightly more scientific perspective.
@@GamerZakh I think it's reasonable to put Spore in there, although ironic given the evolution aspect. It's certainly a lot more accurate than most stuff that gets tagged as Tower Defence on Steam, and is in first person or doesn't contain any towers, or isn't top down. More people should flag Tags on games that abuse them, maybe Steam does actually remove tags that get reported a lot.
@@jonevansauthor The tags on Steam are by users, so if a game has a high tag for a thing, it's because a lot of people are tagging the game as that. How accurate or inaccurate a game's tags are are based on the users, so Steam views it as a self-solving problem. If 90% of players tag a game as 'Tower Defence', that's what most people think it is so when people search for 'Tower Defence' they find that game. Even if the game isn't a Tower Defence game, 9/10 people who are looking for Tower Defence want to find that game, so search works as the users expect.
@@GamerZakh honestly I assumed that the developer got to add tags they identified with to kick it off. But if they don't, that just makes it even worse and gamers need to stop adding made up tags to things that are wrong because it's shooting themselves in the foot. There's zero point tagging things incorrectly and no limit to how many genres we're allowed to have in gaming. They could just make up new tags. Regardless, it needs to stop and I give Valve zero brownie points for their implementation. It still better than the Epic, Apple or Google stores but that's not saying err... I was going to say much but I'll go with anything at all.
@@jonevansauthor Devs are also users, so they can suggest a few at the start, but once the public finds the game they'll overwhelm the initial tags with what they want. It's why my lists are successful haha. Anyone can go to Steam and search 'Upcoming FPS' and get 300 results. I carefully curate, so the 15-50 games I list in each video make a lot more sense. Even if not everyone 100% agrees with my genre curation, I always at least have reasons for why I do or don't include certain games.
Thanks for the nice video! In fact Thrive looks exactly like something I've been wanting for a long time! My favorite was the classic Black & White! Nothing was better than ripping out a few trees, putting them on fire with the fireball, place a large bolder on it, wait till it's glowing hot and pick it up / fling it toward the enemy temple! 🤣🤣They never see these long range artillery strikes coming...
16:27 me trying to remember that game similar to this "doodle god universe" where you combine basic elements to make more elements to combine: *meme dude thinking intensely* (it's doodle god, it was an old flash game, there were also doodle devil, but kinda the same games)
It's not doodle god, it's older. Doodle god is based on a 90s game called Alchemy. The one I'm thinking of is a flash game that released before 2007 (because I played it in high school) and doodle god released in 2010. It was likely an Alchemy clone.
funny how a game from 1999 (Populous) has better graphics then 90 % of the games on this list, that are coming out in 2024. Also better mechanics and overall gameplay
That's because Populous was a AAA game, but publishers stopped funding god games so now they're made by like 1 person in a garage. This is usually the weird thing about comparing games across decades. It's easy to forget that many of those old games cost millions of dollars.
Abbey Games, the maker of Reus, is a dutch company. Reus is the dutch word for giant. So even though it sounds fantastical in english, to me it's just a very straight forward title. 😅
Oh a new black and white would have been so cool ! And a new populous... Well, I'm pretty sure Peter Molyneux has a "great" idea for his next game =/ It might even change the life of some people. A new spore would have been fun if EA didn't kill Maxis... I really loved Dark Spore too even though it went through hell. I kickstarted Fata Deum and I can't get to like the game at this point, it has some mechanics I don't enjoy.
One game I had a lot of fun with in the 90s was Creatures. Little creatures that had genetics, biochemistry and a simple neurological system, they would play and eat and mate and all this stuff. Wandered around in a kind of terrarium. You could teach them basic commands... it was a very interesting game. The last one was ages ago, once in awhile I look to see if anyone has made something like it but nothing hits the mark.
Thank you for this video, God games were one of my favourite genres back then. I honesty wish Black and White gets remastered, but that will never happen as long as the EA overlords are holding the IP.
@@Hurricayne92 Big publishers aren't about free money, it's about maximum money. They could invest in a remaster and make a few hundred thousand dollars, but why bother when a new simple Sims 4 DLC will earn millions?
I hate to say it Zakh as I really do like you and your channel and have been watching over 5 years, but I much prefer this type of video you do. You really are the best out there at delivering in brief a look at the top games in X. I think you should focus and stick to this with only a fewer lets plays.
Hey you don't have to hate to say it, it's really kind of you to say haha, thank you. Before this I struggled making these kind of videos without burning out, which is why they were so limited. This year I think I found a technique that's not as mind breaking lol, so I'm seeing how far I can take it this time.
The problem I have with them now is the same as most other games with competition. They all tend to become the 'same' with only a different 'skin' and theme. Right now I'm enjoying both the simplicity and ARTISTIC value of Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth (no EA license anymore - download from online archives.) and Planetbase from Madrugaworks. Not all games need to be the same or overly complicated if your premise is sound and the experience is pleasant. Indie's, like any new industry are finally starting to get some legs.
Oh it's a really good time to discover universim haha. I first listed it in my very first list videos in 2014, it's been a long time waiting for it to get close to finished.
The fact that Black and White 1 and 2 haven't been remade or rebooted yet is just... it's a crime. Although, having said that... we've all seen what remakes and reboots can become so maybe it's a blessing in disguise...
It wounds my heart, that both the strategy genre RTS and the 4X along with the God game genre peaked in the early mid 2000s and a decade later we are still struggling to get anything close. Well at least the city builder genre is still thriving and RTS is making a very slow but determined come back.
I have actually played several hundred hours of ecosystem since it came out as weird as it sounds. I did not realize they are over the release date BUT I have to say it’s a unique and incredible game. Furthermore, the games evolution path has had the community involved. He’s added basically most things the community asked for and more over time. I think one of my own suggestions made it in the game from a forum. The development has slowed down, but each update seems to have a huge game impact when they do come.
I want Black & White 1 and 2 as VR-games! I mean even the graphics look like most VR-games now. It feels like it was meant to be a VR-game, but it was made before we had the hardware.
speaking of god games, i'd absolutely LOVE to see something like From Dust again, there's so much potential with the hardware we have these days, i just can't stop thinking about it!!
See that's what technological progress is all about! In 1999 these kind of games cost tens of millions to make and whole teams of developers. Today, 1 person can do it. Amazing right?
Imagine a game like Adapt but as an MMO so people constantly adapt across the world to be stronger. But also add a breeding mechanic too it as well. So you can see your creature running across the world if it's successful
Man I remember playing WorldBox before it got to all the new designs and stuff but I took a break and when I finally went back to it I was like Wow this looks completely different
Thr #3 to #7 titles and #11 title (Ecosystem, this one which i like the look of) are really more of a sandbox evolution type as you explained in video. So maybe you could divide them into their own category in the description? - I do like The Universim and Fata Deum.
I have a clear memory about this...both B&W and Spore were massive disappointments and we were shaming Peter Molyneux and Will Write for their over-hyped failures. 15yrs on...people seem to think they were amazing
Worldbox is one of the few games ive bought. But the guy is either working on something big or hes moved on to something else. It has crazy potential though.
fata deum is the only one I'm interested in tbh. Imo B%W or Populus 3 spiritual remake should be the main type of games we currently miss. Idk if VR is the future of gaming I can see a connection here
Yeah I remember a lot of people played Spore until the civ stage and then they just restart from there. You can see a lot of the new games took that as a hint and only focus on half of the Spore phases. Universim is basically Spore but only the tribal phase onwards.
I think thrive would be amazing when it’s finished so I hope the process speeds up. Universim is also a game I’ve been watching for a while and I don’t have PC so I can’t play it but it looks awesome
I checked my Steam and the demo for Fata Deum apparently left a bad enough impression on me that I put it into my ignore list. I did remember playing the demo, but I don't remember my feelings on it at the time.
@@antoniousai1989 honestly I hate this attitude. Find your own work around for a deficiency in software, don't ask companies to provide better software or hardware. Apple types do it all the time - the Magic Mouse charging situation is fine, despite it being completely unnecessary, and them having had many years to fix it with any of at least three great solutions. The reasoning? Well, if you just do this one weird trick, that makes the company producing e-waste ok because you can cope with it. Rather we should say, it would be better if Steam did let you take notes, just like Amazon wishlists do. Steam is the best, but it is FULL of UI inconsistencies and missing features and is insanely slow to serve pages. Those are real problems they could fix. Apple could fix their products, and so could other companies.
I don't know what happened but, there is no demo for Microcivilization anymore. Not that I can see, anyway. Which is a shame because, I was looking forward to trying it. :)
Sometimes demos come and go, usually it's because the demo is a very underdeveloped version of the game and the game has actually come a long way since, so the dev doesn't want people getting the wrong idea. But what the demo existing does mean is that there will be videos of people playing the demo at least.
Yeah I think many took the lesson from Spore to not do every phase. Universim is basically tribal to space. Adapt is just creature. There are some games out there which are just the cell phase, but they kind of are more arcadey shooter/battle games.
16:25 Doodle God Universe - "this is sort of a proper more 3D version of that game where you combine elements - I forgot what it's called" ..... do you mean Doodle God? Like, the exact name in the title of the game you're currently talking about?
No, I'm talking about a flash game I played in high school that would've predated Doodle God. It's all based on a 90s game called Alchemy, but I can't find the specific one I played.
Really wish EA would just release both Black & Whites to buy digitally. Dunno why they’re being so stingy about it. The second one was the best imo. I preferred the blending of God game/RTS and city management. Fata Deum is our best bet so far. Like you I didn’t think the demo was all that. It had a confusing UI and ran pretty poorly. Was pretty buggy too from what I remember. Hopefully it’s in better shape now.
I tried the demo for fata deum. I couldn't finish it because of some of the mechanics. Instead of people worshipping to give you the energy you needed, you have to collect or destroy ancient relics. Considering they were hidden that just wasn't fun for me. Add in a bit of a clunky tutorial where i couldn't drop wood i collected, i gave up on the demo
Which old God Game was your favourite? B&W, Pop, or Spore? And seriously, if you haven't seen my other upcoming games lists, you're missing out! Playlist here: th-cam.com/play/PLYVqUDxY6COh7bkuJoBb1koNRX7mAX2yp.html
great game presentation, many of them I didn't know about! LIKED!
@@WojDestroyer Thanks! I spend a lot of time working on these.
@@GamerZakh oh yea I can see that and only imagine how long it took ;)
I have only played Black and White back in the day and I loved it. I'm immensely disappointed that we do not have a Black and White 3 or a Black and White 4. the god game genre is severely underrepresented.
@@grasshopper1153 Yeah, I read there were ideas all the way up to B&W 7 where it would be modern day. I suspect the problem was Peter Molyneux, he's notorious for overpromising and mismanaging, and I think games from Bullfrog and Lionhead succeeded in spite of him, not because of him. Black & White 2 even shipped with an apology letter in a notepad document. Extra evident with ex-Bullfrog devs becoming Two Point Studios and succeeding with Two Point Hospital. Those devs are great, I have a feeling Molyneux kept driving things into the ground.
I hope we get some additional games inspired by Black and White. I had so much fun with those games and it honestly bothers me that there aren’t many games like it. I’ll forever remember the game whispering my name, making me think I was crazy 😂
yeah, why are all the old games better than the current junk that is put out? sure those games might have had weaker graphics, but the gameplay was so much better back in those days.
I’m making a black and white clone. We’ve got a discord to keep up with the progress
After playing some games in VR i concluded Black and White would be a perfect VR game if it come out now.
Grabbing things as interaction, drawing the symbols to cast spells, an animal companion you can pet... Everything
@@demogorghon That right there is a brilliant idea, though there should be the option to play it without VR too. Too bad it'll probably not happen.
I got stuck on the first island in every game I ever played of Black & White no matter how I played (the stone quest, specifically, and yes I did look up walkthroughs, the game was bugged) but these look interesting.
Black and white was amazing. Fond memories of playing that many years ago.
Just a note on WorldBox - God Simulator there is a lot of delays due to the war in Ukraine but the dev is still actively working on it.
Oh he´s from ukraine?...
He is from Russia.@@gameswithkobralo2520
@@gameswithkobralo2520 No, he from russia.
I literally just want a Black and White 2 Remake with modern tech, QoL, and expectations.
Yay, another mention of my game!
Even if version 1.0 of Elysian Eclipse won't exceed Spore, which will very likely be the case, me and my team will keep expanding it with free updates, making it a little better every time! It has been a lot of fun working on this project so far. ^^
If it even gets halfway to Spore but stays in development people would love it. I don't think anyone expects an indie to surpass a multimillion dollar game on day 1. The Stardew Valley approach can be very popular where it's a pretty good game that just gets better over time so eventually everyone owns it lol
Very good game,I hope it can bring new stuff that spore didnt have ,I will definitely play it once it releases
Something that I would love to have in this game is the ability to stay and continue evolving in the ocean or/and the ability to evolve flight
Populous and Black & White were my favorite god games to play back in the day. Looking forward to more games inspired by those in 2024.
I’m making a black and white clone. We’ve got a discord to keep up with the progress
I want to join
Thank you so much for mentioning Reus 2! We're so pleased to appear in such a well-curated video. We'll share more news on the release date soon!
it is absolutely wild to me that we haven't gotten a game like Black & White. There's so much potential in the idea and with the today's technology you'd assume we'd at least have a bunch of failed attempts and maybe one that would be a spiritual successor. But to me even Fata Deum isn't picking it up, because to me what was the most Black & White about Black & White was the Creature. I'm left with playing the original games in loop forever I guess...
I never got the appeal of the Creature, it seemed like a random and unfitting element for me, but I agree on Fata Deum not capturing the magic of Black and White, which for me was about the sense of wonder, you would explore the island and everywhere you would find new fun stories with new fun stuff to do which never failed to surprise and entertain. What I'm seeing in Fata Deum is just an RTS dressing up as Black and White.
I can't even get it to play on windows 10 D:
@@FullchanAnon B&W Ultimate mod for the rescue
Well, the big studios are all into MMOs and mobile scam games because that's where the money is. And the indies don't have the funds/dev power to pull it off. Back then god games were just one of many genres that were explored and whoever made one didn't have much competition. More importantly, the audience was dedicated "real" gamers. Meanwhile gaming is mainstream, millions and millions of players of all kinds and that means also thousands and thousands of small and big studios trying their luck. They suffocate each other and if you try your hand on a niche genre you won't have big budgets. But you kind of need one for a modern Black&White, especially if the graphics should also be up to date. Let's be honest here, the games of this list all look like they are 10-20 years old.
What I miss in games is one that picks up the mechanic of Black and White's avatar's. With our current level of AI it would be much easier to have a game where in you raise and teach your own creature/thing to act on your behalf.
One of my yearly Christmas tradition is to binge these lists you make while adding games to my wishlist. Always looking forward to these every year, thanks for making these!
Thank you! I'm really glad you're enjoying them. This year I'm going all out, so I'm still making more into the new year.
Microcivilization is my friend's game, he works on it by himself, he gave me beta to try and I lost instantly 13 hours to it. That good it is! Thanks Gamerzakh to include it!
I am still salty about ea buying Lionheads studios and killing them.We will never get another proper Black and white game ever
Microsoft bought Lionhead, so it is always a possibility. It's why Microsoft is making a new Fable, that was Lionhead too.
black and white 2 (never played 1) was actually my favorite city builder. It was so simple, but your cities could look impressive. The impressiveniss score with the high ground bonus and diminishing returns was great.
every city builder or colony sim nowadays is way too gritty ;v I don't care what "Adam" is good at or what his skills are
crazy how nearly 10+ years later and Spore still has such a huge effect on this genre. I know this has been said a million times but it is a tragedy that EA killed Maxis Studio...imagine what a Spore 2 on Unity 5 would be like? Legit a dream game and it's so sad we will never get Spore 2 unless someone pays EA a shit ton of money to take the IP away from them.
I don't think the IP is all that important, it's just making a proper successor would cost tens of millions at least. Don't have to buy the name though, War for the Overworld worked out without buying the Dungeon Keeper IP.
The main reason for people not liking tribal and furder phazes in spore was that they were very very unfinished. Of ourse a lot of folks would prefer funny animals parts of game either way but also Spore was striped of the chance to reach it's full potential due to very rushed dedlines. Thanks EA.
I hope elysian eclipse will fix that. Crossing my fingers for the developers.
Populous the beginning was my favorite
I love these type of games so much, RTS games, Turn based strategy, and especially"god" games. They're just so fun, you can create your own story
Thrive is criminally underrated, it easily has the most potential out of all the games in the list by far
Plus, even though it will take a decade or more to be finished, by the time aware stage is complete it will already be the mother of all evolution games with the amount of possibilities
Agreed!
Have "played through" the game several times now and love it. Still, I'm looking forward to games like "Adapt" that beat more of a spore notch.
I backed Universim with the highest tier that was available almost a decade ago, and have been staying completely hands-off until launch. The footage I saw here looks exactly like what I'd hoped for
Yeah I just checked, the first time I mentioned Universim in a video was 2014. It's just about reaching 10 years of development, it looks a lot more than when I last played too.
it had troubled beginnings and since then i haven't followed it, hopefully they are able to salvage a good game out of this when it releases
Same! Not quite highest tier though!
@@Cenot4phtry slowing down the pace and have a surplus of food and water
It reminded me of a concept that’s popped up a few times in books I’ve read and I’d love to see actually made one day. Essentially a Competitive God Sim. Imagine this: you and many other people find lands to rule as gods and people who worship you, you act in their interest and mold them to your own interest sort of like Black and White. They advance and grow and depending on how you mold your chosen people is how they’ll react to the people of other Gods. You do not actively control people like an RTS but you can affect the world around them in accordance with your influence.
Why hasn't anyone just converted Black and White into VR as a mod project or something? God games were literally MADE for the VR platform- so much so, they even included a virtual representation for your hand in the games. Populus made the UI appear as if you were standing over a table looking down onto the world which is a cool idea for interacting with a world in VR.
Populous, Black and White and...Spore? One of these are not like the others ;D
Definitely most interested in Fata Deum, looks like the successor to B&W that we never got!
Well 'God Game' doesn't exactly have a hard definition haha. I'd throw SimEarth into it as well. Generally games where you control living things from a higher form perspective. Pop and B&W you're actually a god in-game, Spore you basically act as a god but from a slightly more scientific perspective.
@@GamerZakh I think it's reasonable to put Spore in there, although ironic given the evolution aspect. It's certainly a lot more accurate than most stuff that gets tagged as Tower Defence on Steam, and is in first person or doesn't contain any towers, or isn't top down. More people should flag Tags on games that abuse them, maybe Steam does actually remove tags that get reported a lot.
@@jonevansauthor The tags on Steam are by users, so if a game has a high tag for a thing, it's because a lot of people are tagging the game as that. How accurate or inaccurate a game's tags are are based on the users, so Steam views it as a self-solving problem. If 90% of players tag a game as 'Tower Defence', that's what most people think it is so when people search for 'Tower Defence' they find that game. Even if the game isn't a Tower Defence game, 9/10 people who are looking for Tower Defence want to find that game, so search works as the users expect.
@@GamerZakh honestly I assumed that the developer got to add tags they identified with to kick it off. But if they don't, that just makes it even worse and gamers need to stop adding made up tags to things that are wrong because it's shooting themselves in the foot. There's zero point tagging things incorrectly and no limit to how many genres we're allowed to have in gaming.
They could just make up new tags.
Regardless, it needs to stop and I give Valve zero brownie points for their implementation. It still better than the Epic, Apple or Google stores but that's not saying err... I was going to say much but I'll go with anything at all.
@@jonevansauthor Devs are also users, so they can suggest a few at the start, but once the public finds the game they'll overwhelm the initial tags with what they want. It's why my lists are successful haha. Anyone can go to Steam and search 'Upcoming FPS' and get 300 results. I carefully curate, so the 15-50 games I list in each video make a lot more sense. Even if not everyone 100% agrees with my genre curation, I always at least have reasons for why I do or don't include certain games.
Thanks for the nice video! In fact Thrive looks exactly like something I've been wanting for a long time!
My favorite was the classic Black & White! Nothing was better than ripping out a few trees, putting them on fire with the fireball, place a large bolder on it, wait till it's glowing hot and pick it up / fling it toward the enemy temple! 🤣🤣They never see these long range artillery strikes coming...
16:27 me trying to remember that game similar to this "doodle god universe" where you combine basic elements to make more elements to combine: *meme dude thinking intensely*
(it's doodle god, it was an old flash game, there were also doodle devil, but kinda the same games)
It's not doodle god, it's older. Doodle god is based on a 90s game called Alchemy. The one I'm thinking of is a flash game that released before 2007 (because I played it in high school) and doodle god released in 2010. It was likely an Alchemy clone.
@@GamerZakhDayum, I dunno, if you happen to remember would be nice to comment it!
funny how a game from 1999 (Populous) has better graphics then 90 % of the games on this list, that are coming out in 2024. Also better mechanics and overall gameplay
That's because Populous was a AAA game, but publishers stopped funding god games so now they're made by like 1 person in a garage. This is usually the weird thing about comparing games across decades. It's easy to forget that many of those old games cost millions of dollars.
Abbey Games, the maker of Reus, is a dutch company. Reus is the dutch word for giant. So even though it sounds fantastical in english, to me it's just a very straight forward title. 😅
Oh a new black and white would have been so cool ! And a new populous... Well, I'm pretty sure Peter Molyneux has a "great" idea for his next game =/ It might even change the life of some people. A new spore would have been fun if EA didn't kill Maxis... I really loved Dark Spore too even though it went through hell.
I kickstarted Fata Deum and I can't get to like the game at this point, it has some mechanics I don't enjoy.
thank you for mentioning worldbox! 😊 a tester here hehe
We need another Populous game, without the current EA of course.
One game I had a lot of fun with in the 90s was Creatures. Little creatures that had genetics, biochemistry and a simple neurological system, they would play and eat and mate and all this stuff. Wandered around in a kind of terrarium. You could teach them basic commands... it was a very interesting game. The last one was ages ago, once in awhile I look to see if anyone has made something like it but nothing hits the mark.
Adapt has been in development for quite awhile, I dunno if he's made significant progress or not. I think he might have a dev blog or something.
Good to see that this "genre" is not dead
Thank you for this video, God games were one of my favourite genres back then. I honesty wish Black and White gets remastered, but that will never happen as long as the EA overlords are holding the IP.
Which is insane to me because surely EA know that even a simple remaster would equal free money.
@@Hurricayne92 Big publishers aren't about free money, it's about maximum money. They could invest in a remaster and make a few hundred thousand dollars, but why bother when a new simple Sims 4 DLC will earn millions?
Thank you!! I love your lists and don't miss any.
Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying them.
13:04 tomorrow is the trailer that will announced the game launch finally. 1.0
Release date 22 January 2024
I am a closed tester for The Universim. The 1.0 update will be coming out on January of next year.
It's amazing news that it has a release date. Kind of feels surreal after talking about it since 2014.
@@GamerZakh Yeah they released an announcement trailer recently. Though I cannot tell you what 1.0 contains because of NDA and stuff.
22 January
I hate to say it Zakh as I really do like you and your channel and have been watching over 5 years, but I much prefer this type of video you do. You really are the best out there at delivering in brief a look at the top games in X. I think you should focus and stick to this with only a fewer lets plays.
Hey you don't have to hate to say it, it's really kind of you to say haha, thank you. Before this I struggled making these kind of videos without burning out, which is why they were so limited. This year I think I found a technique that's not as mind breaking lol, so I'm seeing how far I can take it this time.
Microcivilization is very good, my mouse left clicks 2x sometimes because of it
The problem I have with them now is the same as most other games with competition. They all tend to become the 'same' with only a different 'skin' and theme. Right now I'm enjoying both the simplicity and ARTISTIC value of Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth (no EA license anymore - download from online archives.) and Planetbase from Madrugaworks. Not all games need to be the same or overly complicated if your premise is sound and the experience is pleasant. Indie's, like any new industry are finally starting to get some legs.
Universim to be released in January 22, 2024!! Finally!
Thanks for the list :) Looks like a lot of diverse fun in there. Did not know about universim at all and it looks like what I need! :D
Oh it's a really good time to discover universim haha. I first listed it in my very first list videos in 2014, it's been a long time waiting for it to get close to finished.
The fact that Black and White 1 and 2 haven't been remade or rebooted yet is just... it's a crime. Although, having said that... we've all seen what remakes and reboots can become so maybe it's a blessing in disguise...
I'm playing through the original black and white and it's probably one of the best games I've ever played in my life.
Most looking forward to Fata Deum. Black and White were some of my favorite games ever.
It wounds my heart, that both the strategy genre RTS and the 4X along with the God game genre peaked in the early mid 2000s and a decade later we are still struggling to get anything close. Well at least the city builder genre is still thriving and RTS is making a very slow but determined come back.
I miss Black and White so much it was my favorite game as a kid and i hate that i cant play it again
I have actually played several hundred hours of ecosystem since it came out as weird as it sounds. I did not realize they are over the release date BUT I have to say it’s a unique and incredible game. Furthermore, the games evolution path has had the community involved. He’s added basically most things the community asked for and more over time. I think one of my own suggestions made it in the game from a forum. The development has slowed down, but each update seems to have a huge game impact when they do come.
I want Black & White 1 and 2 as VR-games! I mean even the graphics look like most VR-games now. It feels like it was meant to be a VR-game, but it was made before we had the hardware.
speaking of god games, i'd absolutely LOVE to see something like From Dust again, there's so much potential with the hardware we have these days, i just can't stop thinking about it!!
Finally some love for Elysian Eclipse
I really hope it succeeds
19:32 Of course Worldbox, I'm a premium 🗿 player
All of them got noting on Zach2023 (God of Hippos) 😂😂
I'm still holding out hope for a new game like "From Dust"...
I miss black and white. It was literally my childhood I’m 22 now but damn game don’t even seem to hold up now a days
One of my favorite genres of gaming!
Along with RTS hybrids! Like Dungeon Keeper and Sacrifice!
2024 games but they are looks like we are in 1999 🤣🤣
See that's what technological progress is all about! In 1999 these kind of games cost tens of millions to make and whole teams of developers. Today, 1 person can do it. Amazing right?
Imagine a game like Adapt but as an MMO so people constantly adapt across the world to be stronger.
But also add a breeding mechanic too it as well.
So you can see your creature running across the world if it's successful
Oh, God!
I could not get enough Populous. Eventually the disc died, as did the HD in my old peanut-era PC
Good enjoyed.
Man I remember playing WorldBox before it got to all the new designs and stuff but I took a break and when I finally went back to it I was like Wow this looks completely different
Thr #3 to #7 titles and #11 title (Ecosystem, this one which i like the look of) are really more of a sandbox evolution type as you explained in video.
So maybe you could divide them into their own category in the description?
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I do like The Universim and Fata Deum.
I have a clear memory about this...both B&W and Spore were massive disappointments and we were shaming Peter Molyneux and Will Write for their over-hyped failures.
15yrs on...people seem to think they were amazing
7 wasn't wishlisted, thanks! )
Glad you found a new one!
I backed the Unversim back on Kickstarter when I was a stupid child! And I'm still waiting! Im litrally soon to have a child of my own!
It has been a long time haha, it's pretty much done now though, they're just working on the last update but basically it's finished already.
Need a black and white 3 with fully customizable civilization.
im surprised no one tried doing something like black and white for so long.
Fata Deum is an attempt.
Worldbox is one of the few games ive bought. But the guy is either working on something big or hes moved on to something else. It has crazy potential though.
I wish someone would bring back or make a new game just like Populous the Beginning but with updating mechanics and graphics. I loved that game
On paper, Microcivilization is a game I should like, but I only made it 10 minutes into the demo, which I believe is the first attack.
Just saying thrive is already out btw just the creature stage isnt out yet
It's still in early access, so it's still an upcoming game yeah
Universim is already out and it's great
cant wait for reus 2 i loved reus 1
Muy buen video trae opciones muy interesantes gracias 🤩🤩🤩
These Doomed Isles looks amazing
Question. What are the main differences between the pc and mobile versions of world box?
Finally! I was growing bored waiting for new God games.😅
Universim is the closest we’ve had in a while.
I’m Robin, a solo dev working on a Black & White like. I agree bw1 > bw2. You left Deus Novum out of your list.
fata deum is the only one I'm interested in tbh. Imo B%W or Populus 3 spiritual remake should be the main type of games we currently miss. Idk if VR is the future of gaming I can see a connection here
Knowing there are some who doesn't like the civ and space stages just makes me mad. I shall unleash religious vehicles upon them!
Yeah I remember a lot of people played Spore until the civ stage and then they just restart from there. You can see a lot of the new games took that as a hint and only focus on half of the Spore phases. Universim is basically Spore but only the tribal phase onwards.
Universesim was so bare bones the early release had no save function.
Yeah I remember that. I just checked, I first mentioned Universim in a 2014 video, so just about reaching a decade of it being in development now haha
I think thrive would be amazing when it’s finished so I hope the process speeds up. Universim is also a game I’ve been watching for a while and I don’t have PC so I can’t play it but it looks awesome
I’m not surprised if this VIDEO is in early access with how many games are lol😂 also 19:42 omg I love worldbox
I checked my Steam and the demo for Fata Deum apparently left a bad enough impression on me that I put it into my ignore list. I did remember playing the demo, but I don't remember my feelings on it at the time.
Yeah I wish I could leave notes on them when I do that so they never tempt me again.
@@jonevansauthor Just don't go back on the ignore and you'll be fine. There's plenty of games anyway
@@antoniousai1989 honestly I hate this attitude. Find your own work around for a deficiency in software, don't ask companies to provide better software or hardware. Apple types do it all the time - the Magic Mouse charging situation is fine, despite it being completely unnecessary, and them having had many years to fix it with any of at least three great solutions. The reasoning? Well, if you just do this one weird trick, that makes the company producing e-waste ok because you can cope with it.
Rather we should say, it would be better if Steam did let you take notes, just like Amazon wishlists do. Steam is the best, but it is FULL of UI inconsistencies and missing features and is insanely slow to serve pages. Those are real problems they could fix. Apple could fix their products, and so could other companies.
I don't know what happened but, there is no demo for Microcivilization anymore. Not that I can see, anyway. Which is a shame because, I was looking forward to trying it. :)
Sometimes demos come and go, usually it's because the demo is a very underdeveloped version of the game and the game has actually come a long way since, so the dev doesn't want people getting the wrong idea. But what the demo existing does mean is that there will be videos of people playing the demo at least.
Microcivilization is so hard for me! idk if I'm just not grasping the strategy or what but damn ive never gotten past the early stages.
i loved the 1st black and white and this farter deum looks good
I like Adapt's graphics and premise. I don't need a super broad game that is shallow. I want a concentrated game that is deep.
Yeah I think many took the lesson from Spore to not do every phase. Universim is basically tribal to space. Adapt is just creature. There are some games out there which are just the cell phase, but they kind of are more arcadey shooter/battle games.
Seems I already had the most interesting ones on my wishlist. These things take forever to finish it seems.
Oh...
Those games...
I remember people slapping their animals in Black and Good... 😏
I am excited about reus 2 not the happiest about some changes but other then that it looks great.
Black & White was a literal 'god game.'
Love to try out Micro civilization.
Will you play Universim Zakh now that it's finally out??? Would love to hear your review on it
I've played it before but that was years ago. I am curious but also have so much stuff to do right now.
16:25 Doodle God Universe - "this is sort of a proper more 3D version of that game where you combine elements - I forgot what it's called"
..... do you mean Doodle God? Like, the exact name in the title of the game you're currently talking about?
No, I'm talking about a flash game I played in high school that would've predated Doodle God. It's all based on a 90s game called Alchemy, but I can't find the specific one I played.
Looks like Doodle God Universe won't release in 2024. It keeps getting postponed.
Really wish EA would just release both Black & Whites to buy digitally. Dunno why they’re being so stingy about it. The second one was the best imo. I preferred the blending of God game/RTS and city management. Fata Deum is our best bet so far. Like you I didn’t think the demo was all that. It had a confusing UI and ran pretty poorly. Was pretty buggy too from what I remember. Hopefully it’s in better shape now.
Remake black and white 1 & 2…… someone please!
I want black and white 2 on steam so bad
I want a non pixelated version of world box
I tried the demo for fata deum. I couldn't finish it because of some of the mechanics. Instead of people worshipping to give you the energy you needed, you have to collect or destroy ancient relics. Considering they were hidden that just wasn't fun for me. Add in a bit of a clunky tutorial where i couldn't drop wood i collected, i gave up on the demo
Yeah I couldn't get through much of it either. That was before they had a publisher though, so hopefully it's better managed now.